Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Gold, Utilities and A-REITs sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.42% to hit a new 3-months low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX:MFG), which rose 2.59% or 0.460 points to trade at 18.250 at the close. Meanwhile, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (ASX:FPH) added 2.57% or 0.160 points to end at 6.390 and Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX:HVN) was up 2.27% or 0.100 points to 4.500 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Metcash Ltd (ASX:MTS), which fell 17.69% or 0.245 points to trade at 1.140 at the close. Syrah Res F (ASX:SYR) declined 10.00% or 0.410 points to end at 3.690 and Qube Holdings Ltd (ASX:QUB) was down 7.58% or 0.210 points to 2.560.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 619 to 390 and 181 ended unchanged.
Shares in Metcash Ltd (ASX:MTS) fell to 5-year lows; losing 17.69% or 0.245 to 1.140.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 7.98% to 18.579.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.29% or 3.40 to $1181.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.39% or 0.23 to hit $59.41 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.15% or 0.10 to trade at $63.70 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.86% to 0.7719, while AUD/JPY fell 0.86% to 95.90.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.23% at 95.56.